Towards Electrical, Integrated Implementations of SIMPL Systems

摘要

This application discusses the practical implementation of a novel security tool termed SIMPL system, which was introduced in [1]. SIMPL systems can be regarded as a public key version of physical unclonable functions (PUFs). Like the latter, a SIMPL system S is physically unique and non reproducible, and implements an individual function FS. In opposition to a PUF, however, a SIMPL system S possesses a publicly known numerical description, which allows its digital simulation and prediction. At the same time, any such simulation must work at a detectably lower speed than the real-time behaviour of S. As argued in [1], SIMPL systems have certain practicality and security advantages in comparison to PUFs, certificates of authenticity, physically obfuscated keys, and also to standard mathematical crypto technics. In [1], definitions, protocols, and optical implementations of SIMPL systems were presented. This manuscript focuses on concrete electrical, integrated realizations of SIMPL systems, and proposes two potential candidates: SIMPL systems derived from special SRAM-architectures (so called "kew designs" of SRAM cells), and implementations based on Cellular Non-Linear Networks (CNNs).
This is used in a system and method for security purposes an inner structure that is accessible by a plurality of terminals, wherein the system allows a measurement on the inner structure of the system by using a challenge signal comprising a plurality of input signals applied in parallel to the terminals and by receiving a response signal dependent on a setting of the challenge signal and dependent on the inner structure of the system, wherein the system comprises the ability to process non-binary input signals, a bandwidth at the terminals and an information content ensuring a incomplete readout of the information content within a predefined access time period, a spatial and/or logical disorder of the inner structure, a non-linear relation between the input signals and output signals appearing at the terminals, and that from the knowledge of a subset of the predefined settings and of associated response signals, the response signal associated with a particular setting outside the subset is not predictable with a probability higher than the probability for guessing the response signal.